Ala Moana Bowls Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright, grab your board and let's talk shape. This is Ala Moana Bowls (Oahu), and honestly, it's a week of two halves. The water temp’s sitting at about 81°, which is right around normal for this time of year, so no surprises there.

We kick things off on Tuesday morning, August 11th. It's small, just 2ft of SSW swell, but the energy is moderate (382). The wind is light ENE at 12 mph, a clean cross-off, and the tide looks questionable. There's a little something to ride, but you'll be searching for it. The afternoon bumps up a touch to 3ft, but the breeze picks up to 19 mph and it still feels marginal.

Wednesday the 12th sees the swell push to 3ft, but it's coming from the S with a longer 18-second period. That's serious groundswell energy, and the rating for the swell direction is good. The energy is climbing into the mid-800s. Still, the wind is up at 19-22 mph, so it's a bit lumpy, and the tide's not playing nice. You can get one, but it's not worth burning a sick day.

Thursday the 13th holds similar size, 4ft, but the period drops to 15-16 seconds. The conditions are the same story; clean lines but a lack of push and some breeze. Friday the 14th is more of the same – 4ft of S swell, with a fresh 25 mph NE wind that starts to make things messy.

Now, here's where it gets interesting. On Saturday the 15th, things start to ramp up. The swell jumps to 8ft from the ENE with an 11-second period, and the energy rockets to 1815. This is a big bump in size, but the period is short, and the wind is howling at 25-28 mph. The wave quality is going to be poor. This is a lot of water moving, but it's not clean. By Sunday the 16th, it's out of control – 12ft of ENE swell with a 12-second period and energy over 3800. That is serious, heavy, stormy surf. A near-gale cross-shore wind and the threat of thunderstorms. This is definitely for experts only, and honestly, with that wind, it looks like a kite-surfing kind of day rather than a paddle-surfing one.

After that pulse, it settles down. From Monday the 17th through to the following week, we see the swell drop back to 5-8ft, but the period crashes down to under 8 seconds. That’s just windswell, plain and simple. The energy drops off a cliff. The wind stays cross-off but fresh, and the surf is just poor to marginal every day. There’s a lot of days in the middle of this stretch, from the 18th to the 22nd, where there is no real recommendation. It's a flat spell.

The light at the end of the tunnel, and the standout, is the period starting on Sunday, August 23rd. The swell direction swings back around to the SSW and S, and the period stretches back out to 15-17 seconds. This is the good stuff. The size is smaller, 4ft on the 23rd, but the energy is picking up. By Monday the 24th, we're looking at 4ft from the S with a 17-second period and energy up over 1300. This is a clean, powerful groundswell. The days that follow, August 25th and 26th, hold this swell with periods of 15 seconds.

This is the window to keep an eye on. The Tuesday the 25th and Wednesday the 26th look like the pick, with solid 4ft S swells. It's promising, but it's far out, so we can't be sure. For now, the earlier part of the week is a write-off, and this later window is one to watch. The forecast can change, so don't lose hope.

Rusty

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